Tyler Thigpen vs. New Orleans – He could be one of the best waiver wire pickups of the year and he faces an injured Saint defense and secondary. If he keeps playing well, he’ll be their starter for sure next year.

Sage Rosenfels at Indianapolis – Sure he’ll turn it over and will take some sacks, but by the end of the game, the numbers will be there–just like every week with this guy.

Jake Delhomme vs. Detroit – He’s been a disappointment pretty much all season, but how he could not do well this week?

Running Back

Deuce McAllister at Kansas City – The Chiefs will likely be without at least three starters in their front seven so McAllister makes for a nice #3 RB this week.

Ricky Williams vs. Oakland – He looked spry last week and the Raider run defense is weak.

Jerious Norwood vs. Denver – Nice reach here for a flex option against the usually shaky Bronco run defense.

Correll Buckhalter at Cincinnati – This would go with my Brent Celek reach of a few weeks ago, but even more of a reach. I’m banking on the Eagles to blow out the Bengals. If it happens, [...]

Editor’s Note: Welcome to a new blog here on FantasyGuru.com. This blog will include the raw notes taken by our own Greg Cosell as he prepares for the Matchup Show on ESPN by analyzing NFL coach’s tape. Greg is Senior Producer of the show, and he’s been a producer at NFL Films for over 20 years.

EAGLES OFFENSE VS. GIANTS DEFENSE

Eagles only ran 57 offensive plays, and had the ball for only 20:50
Eagles only 300 total yards, and only 3-11 on third down conversions
Eagles 5 trips inside the red zone, 4 TD; 3-3 goal-to-go efficiency
Blackburn started at WLB for the Giants, Wilkinson inactive – Phillips started at S with Butler inactive
Jackson 9 yard TD: Direct snap to Jackson in the shotgun with Buckhalter offset to his right, McNabb was split wide left outside the numbers, Westbrook slot left; Sweep right behind pulling RT Runyan and leading Buckhalter
Interesting front alignment by the Giants on a 3rd + 7 in the second quarter: Tuck and Tollefson stood up as LBs with only 2 DL with their hands on the ground; Giants actually blew the coverage, and did not account for TE Smith, but S Phillips got in [...]

Editor’s Note: Welcome to a new blog here on FantasyGuru.com. This blog will include the raw notes taken by our own Greg Cosell as he prepares for the Matchup Show on ESPN by analyzing NFL coach’s tape. Greg is Senior Producer of the show, and he’s been a producer at NFL Films for over 20 years.

BRONCOS OFFENSE VS. BROWNS DEFENSE

Broncos ran 71 offensive plays, and gained 564 total yards
Broncos 6-11 on third down conversions
Cutler 24-42 for 447 yards, 3 TD, 1 interception, only sacked once
Scheffler 39 yards on the first play of the game, He beat S Pool down the middle seam by initially showing an in-breaking route and then taking it vertically; Scheffler acceleration and long speed for a big TE, Pool cannot run and is a liability in man coverage against quality receiving TEs – This was the exact same play Broncos ran against the Raiders the first week of the season when Cutler off designed movement hit Scheffler for 72 yards
Browns corners play a lot of press bail technique in which they turn to the inside, You cannot cover any out-breaking routes [...]

Editor’s Note: Welcome to a new blog here on FantasyGuru.com. This blog will include the raw notes taken by our own Greg Cosell as he prepares for the Matchup Show on ESPN by analyzing NFL coach’s tape. Greg is Senior Producer of the show, and he’s been a producer at NFL Films for over 20 years.

CHIEFS OFFENSE VS. CHARGERS DEFENSE

Chiefs ran 60 offensive plays, but had the ball for only 25 minutes – A function of play breakdown: 44 called passes / 16 called runs
Chiefs excellent on third down: 7-14
Chiefs opening drive: 12 plays, 95 yards, TD
This was Rivera’s first game as DC: Big change he made was Cromartie did not start, Gordon started at RCB – Cromartie did play with the first unit as the game progressed, about midway through the Chiefs first series
Thigpen huge completion on 3rd + 11 from Chiefs 4 yard line on the opening series: Great timing and anticipation, plus touch and accuracy on 17 yard out route to Bowe; Bowe beat Cromartie, who came in at RCB in the nickel
Chiefs continued to make extensive use of “12” personnel, with both Gonzalez and Cottam – Also it’s clear that Thigpen [...]

I never look at statistics when I watch games the next day in order to get a truly organic idea of what happened, that way nothing influences what I see.

I’ll be doing this instead of my podcasts the rest of the way, time permitting.

Here’s a look at the early games from Sunday with those hard to find facts about plays missed etc:

BAL-HOU

- I was surprised that the Texans moved the ball as well as they did in this game. That stood out as the game progressed. Plays were there to be made but they had penalties and too many mental breakdowns which prevented them from scoring. When you don’t watch the entire game, you really never get a sense of what really happened. Watching bits and pieces of this game on Sunday, I didn’t feel that Houston could have scored much more than they did. I felt differently after watching it fully on Monday.

- Owen Daniels missed two TDs on consecutive drives. One was on the Haloti Ngata INT. All Sage Rosenfels had to do is lob the ball over his hand on the first one. Second one was a pass to the right where Daniels had OLB Jarret Johnson [...]

Editor’s Note: Welcome to a new blog here on FantasyGuru.com. This blog will include the raw notes taken by our own Greg Cosell as he prepares for the Matchup Show on ESPN by analyzing NFL coach’s tape. Greg is Senior Producer of the show, and he’s been a producer at NFL Films for over 20 years.

BROWNS OFFENSE VS. BRONCOS DEFENSE

First NFL start for Quinn: 23-35 for 239 yards, 2 TD, 0 interceptions, 0 sacks
Browns ran 64 offensive plays, and controlled the ball for more than 32 minutes
Browns 399 total yards, They were 6-14 on third down conversions
Browns 5 trips inside the red zone, 3 TD
Browns play breakdown: 28 called runs / 36 called passes
Broncos starting LBs: SLB Winborn, MLB Webster, WLB Woodyard
Lewis 29 yards on first quarter TD drive came out of “22” personnel; DT Thomas blown off the ball, Woodyard too far inside
Winslow 5 yard TD on 3rd + 5: Quinn stick throw into a tight window, Loved the willingness of Quinn to make the throw, Great spin move by Dumervil on RT Shaffer to get quick pressure on Quinn
Harrison 13 yards on first play of third series came out of full house backfield [...]

I have been buried since the NFL draft doing our post-draft work, 2015 projections, and more, so I didn’t get a chance to post a draft I participated in for most of May (slow draft). It’s for Athlon Sports’ fantasy magazine, so I can’t publish the entire draft. But here’s my team. This league stars 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 Flex, 1 TE, 1 PK, 1 DT, 1 DL, 1 LB, 1 […]

Although it is disgustingly early for a 2015 fantasy football draft for most, we are closing in on the time of the year when a draft is at least viable. Free agency is basically over, so all we have to wait for now is the draft. I’ve also been intrigued with what our friends at myfantasyleague.com have been doing with their MFL10s. It’s a great idea for the […]

Here are the top stories I’m following for Week 17 Cleveland (7-8) at Baltimore (9-6) Brown QB situation. Brian Hoyer (right shoulder/biceps) did not practice Friday. Rookie Connor Shaw is set to start for them at Baltimore. Do they give Terrance West any snaps to evaluate him? He played 0 snaps last week. Does Josh Gordon do anything to leave us something t […]